Of Time and Space
by CatsbytheGreat
Summary: The Doctor travels to New Mexico to investigate an atmospheric disturbance. What he finds is a Norse God, a secret organization, and far more trouble than he ever wanted to get himself into.
1. Chapter 1

Amy liked to consider herself a prepared individual. She was prepared to accept the existence of aliens, including a race of aliens known as the Time Lords. She was prepared to accept that one such alien had landed in her backyard of her boring home in small-town England (she was from Scotland, and felt a bit out of place), looking surprisingly human, when she was a little girl. She was prepared to accept that he could travel in time and space, had a ship disguised as a blue police call box that was bigger on the inside (called the TARDIS, for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space), that he was the only Time Lord left, and that he liked to wear tweed and bowties and strange hats (on occasion.) She was prepare to accept that said alien called himself the Doctor, and that he would invite her to see every star and planet she could think of.

When traveling with the Doctor, Amy was prepared to deal with aliens, with danger, with near-death experiences, memories being rewritten, time itself being rewritten, marriage (to Rory, the boy who waited for her), pregnancy, and the birth of a daughter who was older that her, whom she had never raised (well, maybe not prepared, but she learned to deal with it all the same). She was prepared to deal with love and loss. She was prepared to be left behind when the Doctor deemed traveling with him too dangerous, only to be picked back up again in the name of another adventure and solving the mysteries of the universe.

Amy was prepared for a lot of things, but she wasn't prepared for what happened next.

It started with something strange over New Mexico.

The Doctor had seen strange energy readings on his TARDIS and set them down for the New Mexico desert, for the year 2012, for the sole purpose of figuring out what the weird energy readings were, and whether he should intervene.

The Doctor liked intervening, and Amy loved that about him. It meant there was never a dull moment and always adventure (and danger, but she tried not to think about that too much). Life in the TARDIS was never boring.

As the Doctor checked the readings again, leaning over screens on the central console, Amy lounged in a chair, staring up at the rather high ceiling of the central room. Rory was sitting under the glass floor, looking through a crate for books the Doctor said he could read.

The Doctor ran a hand through his unruly hair, and started playing with the various knobs around the console. A strange metallic groaning noise filled the air, the sound of the TARDIS materializing somewhere.

"So, something interesting?" Amy asked.

"Yes," the Doctor said. "It seems like a portal of sorts. One that has opened, and for some reason, it's over New Mexico."

"New Mexico?" Amy repeated.

"Yeah," the Doctor said. "The desert. Remember when we were in Utah? It's kind of like that."

"That," Rory called from underneath the glass floor, "was not fun."

"That was a special situation," the Doctor said. "I don't think this will be anything like that."

The TARDIS stopped groaning, and everything became still.

"Well," Amy said, twirling around to face the doors, "let's go!"

The Doctor gave Rory a slightly apologetic look and they followed Amy outside.

It was dusk. The air still had not lost its heat, and Amy tugged at the red sweater she'd worn. The Doctor seemed unaffected, even in tweed. He was always unaffected by temperature, though, and Amy suspected it had to do with his Time Lordness and all. That didn't mean she couldn't be annoyed at him for it.

Ahead, there were clouds forming, moving in a circular motion, stark against an otherwise clear sky. It seemed isolated.

"Tornado?" Rory asked.

"Not quite," the Doctor said, eyeing the funnel that stretched towards the ground.

"Of course," Rory murmured.

They were relatively close, and as they walked closer, the wind picked up, whipping at their clothes, at Amy's red hair, at the sand around them to the point where they couldn't really see.

"Stop!" the Doctor called. "Stop walking!"

Amy and Rory stopped, shielding their eyes against the onslaught of sandy wind. They waited. After a moment the wind died down, and the air became unusually still.

Amy opened her eyes.

"Oh…my…God."

Where the center of the funnel cloud had been not moments ago now stood a man. A tall man, with pale skin and black, long hair. He was thin, but covered in a strange sort of armor, colored green and gold, and holding a golden spear. And he did not look happy to see them.

"Not a tornado, right," Rory said.

The Doctor walked forward, and the man pointed his spear at them.

All three stopped moving, and the Doctor held out his hands as a sign of peace. It was then that Amy caught sight of the ground around the man—it was different. It was almost as if someone had taken different symbols and create a work of art in a perfect circle, at the center of which was this strange man. The Doctor seemed to notice too, but he focused on the stranger.

"I'm the Doctor," he said, "and I noticed a disturbance and came to see what caused it. Who are you? And how did you do this?"

The man's eyes swept over them, and Amy felt a chill sweep down her body as he looked at her, before setting his sights back on the Doctor. "I am Loki," he said, in an accent that sounded vaguely English, "of Asgard."

"No," Rory said, at the same time as the Doctor said, "Asgard?"

"What's wrong with Asgard?" Amy asked, the new word strange on her tongue, but no less strange than the names of other planets they had visited.

"It's a myth," Rory said.

"What?"

"He's right," the Doctor said. "Asgard is a place in Norse mythology, and Loki is the God of Mischief in this mythology."

"Loki" was still watching them. "You must have been exiled, if you don't know who I am," he said.

"I have been away for awhile," the Doctor admitted. "Please, tell me."

Loki raised an eyebrow. "Your strange Midgardian myths are mere entertainment," he said. "I am the truth behind the myth."

"And what truth is that?" the Doctor asked.

Loki smirked. "I am all of those things your myths tell you and none of them. I am not required to tell you who I am or why I have come here. The better question—who are you?"

"That is the question indeed," the Doctor murmured. Louder, he added, "I'm the Doctor."

"Not a common human title," Loki said.

"Who said I was human?"

Loki looked even more intrigued.

The Doctor added, "What is that, around your feet?"

Loki looked down at the symbols around him, slightly surprised. "These are details of my arrival," he said after a moment.

The Doctor was about the respond, when he suddenly tilted his head to the side. Amy heard a slight rumbling sound, and turned her head to see dim lights in the distance.

"Someone is coming," Loki said.

"Well," the Doctor sighed, "this has all been fun and games, but I suppose you have two choices. Let the people who are coming find you, or come with me."

Loki stepped forward, so that he was closer to them. Something dangerous sparked in his eyes.

"And why, Doctor, should I come with you? The man who hides his very name."

The Doctor stiffened, and said, "My name is not the issue here."

"Who are you?" Loki hissed.

"Oh, come off it," Amy snapped, and Loki's head whipped around to look at her. "Does it really matter? That's what everyone calls him, and if you think that just because you have some pointy metal object doesn't mean—"

Amy found her words suddenly drowned out by the sound of a helicopter, and the winds around them kicked up.

She looked around and realized that two helicopters, black and rather large in size, were bearing down on them, and black vehicles were surrounding the area.

"I thought you said this wasn't going to be like Utah!" Rory yelled.

"I may have lied!" the Doctor shouted back.

Amy turned and found herself locking eyes with Loki. His eyes were a shocking green, and his smile razor sharp. "If we're going down, we're going down together," he said.

Amy shivered.

New Mexico was so very much like Utah it wasn't even funny.

They were surrounded by men with guns, in suits, with no way out. Last time Amy had needed to fake death to get around this, but that had been part of a plan (as had being chased around the desert for months). This was different. There was no plan. These agents would not be kind.

One young woman with brown hair, also in a suit, stepped forward to greet them. Or arrest them. Amy wasn't sure if there was a difference.

"Loki Odinson," she said.

Loki glared at her. "That is not my name," he said. "Odin is not my father."

The woman raised her eyebrows. "I don't know if you remember me," she said, "you were sort of busy blowing things up last time we met. I'm Agent Hill, of SHIELD."

"I know who you are," Loki said.

"And right now we are putting you under our custody."

"And you think that smart?" Loki asked. "The only reason I would let you take me is because I want you to. You cannot possibly hope to contain me. And from within, I could learn your secrets."

"Do you have a better suggestion?" Hill asked.

Loki sighed. "I shall come with you, but it is my choice."

"Any particular reason for the change of heart? It would be nice to know why you're coming so easily."

"None that I wish to discuss with _you_."

Hill motioned to a few of the other agents, who came over and put on some special cuffs, which were silver and fit onto Loki's wrists like strange bracelets. They were not bound together. Loki raised an eyebrow.

"Stark has been studying your magic," she said. "These keep you from teleporting."

"I see," Loki said. "And has he found a way to bind the _rest_ of my magic?"

"_Magic_," Amy mouthed to the Doctor and Rory; the Doctor grinned madly, while Rory looked worried.

"He's working on it," Hill said. "Stark is a busy man."

"Oh, I'm sure."

Hill turned to the other three. "And you are?"

"Just passing through," the Doctor said, "though I have to admit, I've never heard of SHIELD before. This is very interesting. I've been out of the loop for quite awhile now, and –hey!"

A few agents were hauling the TARDIS into one of the helicopters.

"That's my ship!" the Doctor yelled.

"Your ship?" Hill asked. "Is that why it's in the desert?"

"Yes!"

"It looks like a police call box."

"It's a cloaking device," the Doctor said. "Look, I'm an alien, and I mean no harm, and you're probably not going to believe me. I was just here to explore the disturbance in the atmosphere, same as you, and now you're taking my ship!"

"Yes," Hill said. "Whatever your intentions, it is our job to study such abnormalities and to make sure that they are not a threat to this planet. And that includes you and your friends."

"Are you taking us into custody?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes."

The Doctor sighed. "As long as you don't hurt my friends."

"If you cooperate, no one will be hurt. Now, follow me."

They followed Hill and Loki to the nearest helicopter.

Once inside, Amy jabbed the Doctor in his stomach with her elbow.

"What was that for?" the Doctor asked.

"For never giving us a peaceful trip to America!" Amy snapped. "I'm tired of being captured by people with guns!"

"It's not my fault," the Doctor said.

"Yes," Rory said, "it is."


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews! I hope you all enjoy this next part!

* * *

The helicopter lifted into the air.

Amy didn't know where they were when they landed, and the SHIELD agents didn't seem keen on telling them anything, so she allowed herself to be escorted, along with the Doctor and Rory, into what looked like the interrogation room of a police station. Loki watched them through the room's window as he passed, being lead elsewhere.

"Well," Rory said, folding his arms on the table. "They're going to kill us."

"Don't be daft," Amy said. "They won't kill us—we haven't done anything."

"Who is SHIELD?" the Doctor mused. "I know about other organizations meant to keep the Earth safe from outside forces—UNIT, Torchwood, but SHIELD?"

"I dunno," Amy said, "maybe you don't spend enough time in America."

"That must be it," the Doctor said, still looking uncertain. "But I'd think I would know."

"Maybe," Amy said, "they're _that_ good at hiding."

"Maybe," the Doctor admitted. "It did take me over one-hundred years to find out about Torchwood." Amy laughed. "In my defense, I'm a time traveler."

"That's not a good defense," Rory said.

The Doctor smirked. "It's the only thing I've got."

Amy opened her mouth to say something but Hill walked in, accompanied by the most terrifying man Amy had ever seen. He was tall, dark skinned, dressed in completely black leathers, with an eye-patch over one eye. And he looked angry. And all his anger was directed at them.

"This," Hill said, "is Nick Fury, director of SHIELD."

Amy nearly laughed. His name was far too appropriate.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions," Fury said, "and if you don't want any trouble, you'll answer them."

"We will do our best," the Doctor said.

"First: Who the hell are you?"

"Easy enough. I'm the Doctor. This is Amy Pond," the Doctor gestured to Amy, "and Rory Williams," another gesture, to Rory, "and I came here to investigate an abnormality in the atmosphere above New Mexico. That blue police box you took was my ship."

"You're aliens," Fury said.

"I am," the Doctor admitted. "Amy and Rory are my friends, but they're from the United Kingdom. They live in London, now, actually."

"What's an alien doing with two humans?" Fury asked.

"Friends," the Doctor repeated. "The question is, what is your organization doing and why are they covering it up? And who is Loki, exactly, besides a very good imitation of an old myth?"

"Excuse me," Fury snapped, "but I am the one running this interrogation."

"But I could help you," the Doctor said, all sincerity. "I'm an alien, as you say, and the only one of my kind, and I have vast knowledge of the universe. I can travel in time, and space. Are you sure you don't want my help?"

Fury and Hill looked at each other.

"I'm not an enemy," the Doctor added. "I'm not trying to take over the world. In fact, I'm trying to keep it safe. I quite like humans. They gave me a home when I had none."

Fury sighed. "You do realize that we only have your word to go on?"

"Yes," the Doctor said, "but I always keep my word. And Amy and Rory can vouch for me."

Fury frowned. "Tell you what: you all stay here until we have everything sorted out, you help us figure out why Loki is here, and we won't harm you. We might even let you go."

The Doctor smiled, and Amy noticed how he didn't mention that he could escape if he wanted to, anyway. "Sounds like a plan." He stood up. "Now, how about we figure out what's going on."

* * *

Loki, as it turned out, did not like to sit still.

He was pacing the cell he'd been put in, which was guarded by several men. It seemed less like a cell and more like a giant glass cylinder, and there was nothing Loki could do without being watched.

The Doctor, Fury, Amy, and Rory approached and Fury turned towards the Doctor. "So you think you can get information out of him?"

"I can try," the Doctor said. "I think he might find more in common with me than with anyone else at this point."

Fury motioned to the guards. "Let him in."

"I'll come with you," Amy said.

The Doctor shook his head. "You'll be safer out here."

"But you won't be safe."

"I'll be fine."

The glass doors slid open and the Doctor stepped through. They closed with a muffled thud before him.

Loki had stopped pacing, and now stood facing the Doctor. He looked as though he was ready to pounce at any moment, tense and hyper-aware. The Doctor, by contrast, took on a relaxed stance as he walked further inside.

"I think," the Doctor said, "you have some explaining to do."

Loki simply looked at him. The hard stare was rather unnerving, but the Doctor tried not to think about that.

"Look, Fury isn't going to be happy with either of us if you don't talk," the Doctor said, "and he doesn't seem like the sort of person anyone wants unhappy."

"Since when are you sent to do Fury's bidding?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow. "You only met less than an hour ago."

"I wanted my friends to be safe," the Doctor said, "and Fury can guarantee that if I help him."

"Fury," Loki said, with a smirk, "can guarantee you _nothing_."

"Well, that's quite a big claim for someone trapped in a glass container."

Loki laughed, low and harsh. "I can escape whenever I please," he said, "and so can you, I'm sure. I'm not a fool, Doctor. I see you for what you are."

"And what am I?"

"Dangerous."

The Doctor felt his own body tense. "How can I be dangerous? I don't have weapons."

"That is irrelevant," Loki said. He took a few steps closer. "You want to be here, as much as I want to be here, and that is why neither of us will leave."

"That may be true," the Doctor said. "I always do love an adventure. But the question is, why do_ you_ want to be here?"

"Perhaps I am curious," Loki said. He grinned. It was unsettling. "Perhaps I wish to do penance for the things I've done to these mortals. Perhaps…I wish to exact my revenge from the inside."

The Doctor frowned. Those were a lot of options, and Loki made them all sound equal parts likely and unlikely. "You're quite the skilled liar."

"As are you, _Doctor._" Loki stepped even closer. "Information for information, then. What is it that you hide? Why don't you want anyone else to know? Is your secret really so terrible? Would it drive your friends away?" He glanced outside, eyes landing on Amy, who wore an expression of confusion. He looked back at the Doctor. "Would _she_ ever forgive you?"

"And what about you?" the Doctor asked, increasingly aware of how much taller Loki was.

Loki showed his teeth in a strange parody of a smile. "I am a monster." He paused, licking his lips, looking the Doctor up and down. "But then again, so are you."

The Doctor was lost for words. Loki looked satisfied. "I'm not hiding," the Doctor managed, finally.

"No," Loki said, with a shrug. "You're running."

The Doctor glanced outside the glass. Amy and Rory both looked concerned. Fury was unreadable. "You realize they can hear everything, right? They'll know-"

"They already knew," Loki said. "As I told Fury, I come of my own choosing. They know it could be far worse." Loki glanced to the side and then back. "Besides, they can't hear us."

"Yes, they can."

"I have enchanted this place to not let through sound. Fury has already guessed, I'm sure, but there is nothing he can do about it."

The Doctor gestured to the metal around Loki's wrists. "I'm guessing that isn't effective."

"Prevents teleportation and little else," Loki said.

"But I'll still tell Fury what you tell me," the Doctor pointed out.

"And I wouldn't tell you anything I didn't want you to hear." Loki sighed and abruptly turned on heal and started pacing again. "Leave."

The Doctor stared at him. "What? We weren't done!"

"We _are_ done." Loki's voice held finality in it.

"Well, _fine_," the Doctor snapped. "I'll be back." And he turned and walked out of the cell.

As soon as he was past the doors everything seemed to come rushing back. Amy and Rory, asking him what had happened. The sound of air vents pumping cool air throughout the building. The Doctor hadn't realized how isolated he'd been in that cell.

"We couldn't hear you," Fury said, "but I'm assuming he let you in on that."

"I think it was just to annoy you," the Doctor said. "I couldn't get much out of him other than what we already know."

"Which is?"

"That he wants to be here, for some reason."

Fury looked annoyed. "We'll continue this tomorrow. Now, follow me. I'll show you to your rooms."

* * *

Their rooms, as it turned out, were more like military bunkers than actual rooms. Amy and Rory were put in the same room, with bunk beds, and the Doctor got a room that could have been a closet in another life. Both rooms had small bathrooms that reminded Amy of the terrible restrooms on airplanes.

Once settled, Amy and Rory ventured into the Doctor's room, where the Doctor was sitting on his bed, looking deep in thought.

Amy didn't know exactly what had been said in the glass chamber, but it had bothered the Doctor—she had seen Loki's face, and the Doctor's face, and Loki's words had been meant to wound.

"You all right?" she asked as she took a seat next to him.

"Yeah." The Doctor gave her a small smile. "I just…don't know. I don't know who this guy is, or anything really. But he's powerful."

"Yeah," Amy said. "He can do magic."

"Which isn't real," Rory added. "Right?"

"Yes and no," the Doctor said. "It's kind of like a science, but more in tune with the environment, and with words rather than equations. It's very old, and only a handful of races in the universe know it. And I get the feeling that I haven't met them all yet."

"So," Amy said, "in theory, I could do magic?"

"Er, it's a bit more complicated than that."

Rory laughed. "You shouldn't be allowed to do magic."

Amy looked up at the Doctor. "Was that what bothered you?"

The Doctor looked a bit surprised. "No. I mean, yes, in a sense. He's dangerous, clearly. I can't tell what he's thinking at any given moment, when he's lying or telling the truth. And he seems to know a lot."

"Maybe he's just really, really smart," Rory said.

"Maybe," the Doctor said, "and that's the problem. Clever people are dangerous people."

"And clever gods of Mischief…" Amy added, her eyes going wide.

"Oh, come on," Rory said. "He can't really be the God of Mischief. Those were stories."

"Stranger things have happened," Amy said, which was true. She'd seen aliens, vampires, Rory as a Roman centurion, and more. She was amazed that things still surprised her.

"Well," the Doctor started, but stopped. Something flicked in front of him, and he frowned.

Amy and Rory followed his gaze, and all three gasped as Loki appeared in front of them.

"I thought you couldn't teleport!" the Doctor yelped, jumping up.

"There's a crazy Norse god in our room," Rory muttered. "We're doomed."

"Calm yourselves," Loki said. "I can't teleport. It is merely a projection."

The Doctor hesitated, then slowly reached forward with his hand, until it passed through Loki's chest. He withdrew, and smiled. "Neat trick."

"Hardly," Loki scoffed, taking in the room. "I am here for a purpose other than tricks. I would like to offer my services."

"With what?" the Doctor asked.

"Revenge."

"I'm not going to help you get revenge."

"Oh, I think you will."

Amy had enough. "What, just because you're supposedly some Norse god? I've met aliens tougher than you! I've met humans tougher than you! If you think that just because you say a few words—"

Loki laughed, which cut her off. "I_ am_ a Norse god," he said, "but that is inconsequential. Your opinion doesn't matter to me, and you couldn't help. It is the Doctor that I ask."

"Good luck trying to get him to help you," Amy snapped. "We sort of do things as a team."

"Yes, but I can uncover things about the Doctor that he keeps hidden, so that he might be persuaded."

"That's not true," Amy said. "You couldn't even if you tried."

"Amy," the Doctor warned.

Loki leaned forward until his nose was inches from the Doctor's. Amy wished she had a weapon, or pepper spray.

And then Loki said, in a voice that was almost a whisper, "Silence will fall when the question is asked. Doctor…who?"

Amy opened her mouth to say something, but her words died when Loki vanished.

The Doctor looked pale.

"What was that about?" Rory asked. "What did he mean, silence will fall?"

"That's something we keep hearing," Amy said, "and no matter how many times the universe nearly ends, it never goes away. I'm getting tired of it. I think he's bluffing."

"But how would he know?" Rory asked. "We just met him!"

"He's very smart," the Doctor said, seeming to gather himself. He turned around to face them both. "Look, I think we've had enough for today. If we're going to deal with this we need to be well rested."

"You're not thinking of helping him, are you?" Amy asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "No. At the very least, not until I know everything I can. And certainly not unless Fury agrees to it."

"I don't like Fury either," Amy muttered.

"Oh, come on," the Doctor said, smiling, "it's an adventure! You like adventures."

"I take it back," Rory said. "I don't like adventures."

"Quit being a wet blanket," Amy said, swatting Rory playfully on the arm. "Come on. Doctor, see you in the morning."

"Goodnight," the Doctor said, looking amused.

Amy dragged Rory back into their own room, and it turned out that falling asleep on bunk beds was easier than she'd originally thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey all! Thanks for the reviews and alerts and favorites! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

* * *

The Doctor awoke in the middle of the night.

At first, he couldn't figure out why, and then when his gaze swept the room he realized that Loki was sitting cross-legged on the floor, looking back at him.

The Doctor jumped and nearly fell off the bed, but managed to catch himself last moment.

"What are you doing here?"

"Do you accept my offer?" Loki asked.

"Do you sleep?" the Doctor shot back.

"Do _you_?"

It was a strange question. It made the Doctor vaguely uncomfortable.

"Of course I do," the Doctor snapped. "You didn't answer my questions. All two of them."

"You wouldn't like my answers," Loki said.

"I'd appreciate it if you answered anyway."

"Oh. And would you prefer honesty or lies?"

"Honesty."

Loki smirked. "You wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

"And would you?" the Doctor asked.

"I am the God of Lies."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "There are no gods," he said.

"Perhaps." Loki moved his hands and within them appeared—

"My sonic screwdriver!" The Doctor lunged forward, but Loki hid his hands behind his back. "How did you get that?"

"Magic," Loki said. "You'll not get it back before we're done talking."

"I can make more," the Doctor pointed out. He had made many.

"I know," Loki said, "but it still bothers you. Besides, it illustrates my point. There are god-like creatures. Other creatures can see them as gods. It depends on your belief. And you are a man who knows so much truth you don't believe in gods. You are like one yourself."

The Doctor sank down on the bed. "What did you mean earlier, when you told me that silence will fall when the question is asked?"

Loki scoffed. "You know exactly what I meant."

"But how did you know?"

"I've fallen through the void," Loki said, "and I've seen many things. I've heard whispers. Some unimportant, and some universe-changing. This was one such whisper. Always, silence will fall. Always asking, who is the Doctor?"

Loki's eyes bore into him. The Doctor swallowed, a question burning in his throat. He wanted to ask. He didn't want to ask. But as ever, he did anyway. "Did you see the answer?"

"I saw many things," Loki said, turning the sonic screwdriver over with his long, pale fingers, examining it. "I think the time is not right."

"Of course it isn't," the Doctor muttered.

Loki glanced up at him. "You have a relationship with time that no one else has," he said. "You're here because an event of utmost importance is going to happen. That's who you are. You bring danger."

"I'm guessing you do too, from the way SHIELD talks about you," the Doctor said.

"I am danger," Loki told him. "Not that it matters. I know what's going to happen, and I need your help."

"Why?" the Doctor asked. "Why do you need my help, and what makes you think I'd help you?"

"Do you not trust me?"

"No!" The Doctor was shocked he would ask such a thing.

Loki laughed. "And SHIELD doesn't trust either one of us. I, personally, trust no one. We shall make a good team."

"Get to the point," the Doctor said.

"Your friends will die," Loki said. "So many humans will die, if you don't help me. Something is attempting to open the portals between worlds. Something is attempted to rip the seams of the universe apart, in hopes of conquering the Earth. But there will be nothing left to conquer."

The Doctor considered this. Stranger things had happened. "And you don't know what to do," he said.

Loki frowned, his restless hands stilling, clutching the sonic screwdriver. "I know their strengths," he said, "and their weaknesses. I know that I am not enough to beat them, for they can beat me, as they know all of my weaknesses. And though I travel between the worlds I do it non-destructively, with far less power. This is different. I felt it back in Asgard. I saw it, when I came to Earth."

The Doctor remembered the universe tearing apart—multiple times. It seemed to be happening more and more these days. First, allowing monsters through. Then, nearly destroying everything. Then disappearing. Then being rewritten. It was never good, and never fun, and he had always been there to reset things and restore the universe with some sense of balance.

Why should this time be any different?

But this was Loki, who himself admitted that he was the God of Lies. The Doctor was rarely met with an equal, but in Loki he had a match, and that was dangerous. Something occurred to him.

"I thought you couldn't teleport."

"This is a projection," Loki said. "I am still in my cell. Check your pocket."

The Doctor did so—his sonic screwdriver was there. He cursed himself for not having checked earlier.

"Illusions," Loki said. "But what happens tomorrow will not be. And you will have to decide."

Then he disappeared, like smoke.

The Doctor palmed his sonic screwdriver, mind full of questions but no answers, and waited until morning.

* * *

Morning came, and Amy and Rory went to the cafeteria for breakfast. Everyone looked startlingly normal.

There was a group seated at a table nearby that kept to themselves. A blond, strapping looking young man, a man with dark hair, another dark-haired man in an expensive-looking suit, a fair-haired man carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows on his back, and a woman with red hair in a body-tight suit who looked…fierce.

It was this red-haired woman that noticed Amy and Rory as they took their food to a table a few spaces away. Her eyes followed them, and Amy felt distinctly uncomfortable.

"Amy," Rory murmured, "they're watching us."

"I know," Amy replied in an equally low voice. "Act like nothing's wrong."

They sat. And ate. And pretended that everyone at the other table wasn't looking at them, even though they were.

"Good morning!"

Amy jumped as the Doctor's voice resonated through the cafeteria from behind her. Now everyone was definitely staring. She twisted in her seat to glare at him.

"Good morning," Rory said, sounding nervous.

"Rory! Pond! Are you ready for some excitement?" the Doctor slid into the seat next to Rory and grinned at them, looking like an overexcited puppy.

"I haven't even finished breakfast," Amy said. "What are you so happy about?"

"This place is so new," the Doctor said. "It's nice to have new. You know, exploring, stuff like that."

"Stuff like that?" Amy repeated.

"He's usually more articulate," Rory said.

Now the people from the other stable were standing up. It looked like they were heading over.

"I heard," the Doctor said, "that we might actually find out what's going on today."

"And then we can go home, right?" Rory asked. Amy stuck her tongue out at him.

The man in the expensive suit approached their table, stopped, and grinned at all of them. "Hello there," he said. "I'm Tony Stark. Just curious—who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Uh…" Amy found herself at a loss for words as Tony Stark's friends surrounded him, and them.

"Excuse him," the strapping blond man said. "He's a bit rude. I'm Steve Rogers. And what he meant to say was, are you new recruits?"

"Not exactly," the Doctor said. "We were, ah, found in the desert. With Loki. Fury has asked me for his help. I'm the Doctor."

"Why does everyone have code names?" the fair-haired man with the arrows asked.

"You're one to talk," the red-haired woman said. "Hawkeye."

Steve Rogers cleared his throat, and gestured to the Doctor, Amy, and Rory. "Introductions," he said, "would be appropriate right now."

Tony rolled his eyes, but they all introduced themselves. It turned out that the red-haired woman was called Natasha and had the code name Black Widow (for reasons Amy didn't want to know). The fair-haired arrow wielder was Clint Barton, also known as Hawkeye ("for my excellent aim"). Bruce Banner was the dark haired man. Tony Stark and Steve Rogers went by the names Iron Man and Captain America, respectively. That last one had Amy raising her eyebrows so high she thought they would fall off.

"Captain America?" she repeated, stifling a laugh. "How—what—why?"

Steve's cheeks reddened a bit. "It's, um…"

"He's as American as apple pie," Clint said.

"I gather you all don't have these names for fun," the Doctor said.

Tony opened his mouth to respond, but harsh, shrieking alarms broke him off.

"Well," Steve said, "you'll see why we have these names."

And they ran out of the cafeteria. After only an exchanged glance, Amy, Rory, and the Doctor sprinted after them.

As it turned out, there was a storm.

The Doctor had seen storms on nearly every planet, in the middle of space, and he had never seen a storm like this. The clouds were fairly isolated to one area—the rest of the sky shone a clear blue. Yet the clouds were dark, almost black, and twisted and churned, with a funnel cloud extended towards the ground. Lightning cracked.

The Doctor was dimly aware of other people filing out of the SHIELD facility to gather around and watch.

When he'd followed the people he'd met at breakfast, he hadn't quite been expecting this.

To be honest, he'd expected something else. The group had changed—well, Clint and Natasha hadn't. They'd been born ready to fight. They simply rushed out. But Steve Rogers put on a red, white, and blue (but mostly blue) spandex-type skin-suit, and Tony Stark was in what looked like a complicated robotic suit. The Doctor wanted to take a look at that suit later—it looked like something only a genius could come up with.

Bruce Banner hadn't done anything.

Fury had been waiting outside, and he stood ahead of everyone else now, watching.

Amy and Rory stared at the storm in awe as the funnel reached the ground.

"It isn't Thor," said a voice to his left, loudly enough for everyone to hear. The Doctor turned and spotted Loki, who looked grim. Who had been let out of his cell for some reason.

"Then who is it?" Fury asked.

Loki's lips tightened in a thin line. "I would have to see the landing site," he said. "If whatever comes out doesn't give it away, first."

"What is it?" the Doctor asked.

"It's a…" Loki frowned, as if searching for words. "My people call it a bifrost. I suppose your people would call it a portal between words. It allows travel from one world to another."

"Through a tornado?" Rory asked.

"Wormhole," Amy said.

"Wormhole," Loki repeated with a nod. He never took his eyes off the storm.

"It's like when you arrived," Amy said.

"Yes," Loki said. "But it isn't me."

"And it isn't Thor," the Doctor added. He catalogued this away. Thor and Loki. They were both from mythology.

The storm intensified, as the funnel touched the ground, dust kicking up everywhere, lighting scorching the Earth. And then the storm seemed to collapse in on itself, the funnel sucking itself dry until it disappeared.

And it revealed no one and nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for reading and reviewing! Enjoy!

* * *

They arrived at the storm site within minutes. Loki was first out with Fury, kept close, but allowed to do as he pleased. The Doctor followed him out, and Amy and Rory, and then the group they'd met earlier.

The ground was burnt in several places, but absent of the elaborate design encased in a circle that had come with Loki's arrival.

Loki looked oddly pale. Almost ill.

"It's not from Asgard," he said after a moment. "There would have been a sign."

"Then who is it?" Fury asked.

Loki looked up at the sky. "We should go inside," he said. "There is nothing more to see here." At Fury's glare he added, "I will explain when we are indoors."

The Doctor walked up next to Loki as they headed back towards the vans that had took them there. "You knew this was going to happen," he said.

"That doesn't mean I have to like it," Loki snapped. "I would rather it had not." And he parted from the Doctor with such ferocity that the Doctor, despite not being good at reading social queues, knew not to follow.

Ten minutes later they were in a large conference room, all sat around a table with Fury standing at the head, and his assistant, who introduced herself as Agent Hill, next to him.

"So," Fury said, "it seems we got some creatures from another planet trying to get to Earth. Loki, got any ideas?"

"Not from Asgard," Loki said. "If they had been, even if they hadn't come down, there would have been some sort of sign, even if it were only magic in the air. But there was no such thing. And the burns…that is from something that isn't quite adept at traveling between the realms."

"Is there, like, a planet of fire demons somewhere?" Tony asked.

"Stark, quiet," Fury snapped.

Loki looked slightly amused. "Perhaps," he said. "That would be fun." He shot a wicked look Tony's way.

Tony shrank back into his seat.

"Hang on," Amy said, "I thought you couldn't travel between universes."

"I thought so, too," the Doctor admitted, "but apparently not."

"It is non-destructive to travel between realms when done right," Loki explained. "When done wrong…I could destroy your planet if I wished." Again, that frightening grin.

"I'd like to see you try," Clint said, hands tight around his bow.

"Is that a challenge, Barton?"

"Focus!" Fury said, cutting off Barton's reply. "There are more important things going on. Loki, do you have any idea what this might be?"

Loki took a deep breath. "I have reason to believe it is the Chitauri."

A shiver of discomfort ran around the table.

"Um," Rory said, raising a hand timidly. Everyone turned to look at him and he cleared his throat. "Sorry if this is a stupid question but, what are the Chitauri?"

There was silence.

"Who wants to take this one?" Tony asked in a quiet voice.

"I will," Loki said. "The Chitauri are a race of aliens—"

"—who Loki set upon the Earth so that he could take over," Clint cut in. "This _bastard_ used a powerful object called the Tesseract to mind control people and let the Chitauri army loose on Manhattan and we had to stop him, and them, and not without a lot of deaths. Our own Agent Coulson was stabbed through the chest by Loki!"

Clint looked furious. The tension in the room was palpable. Loki stared at Clint but didn't react. Instead he said, smoothly, "You would be correct. But there's more to it than that."

"Like what?" Clint demanded.

Loki's eyes gleamed with…something. The Doctor didn't know what it was, only that it seemed dangerous.

"You never met them," Loki said, "but I did. They are a cruel race, a war-like race. They revel in blood and fighting. They are built for it. They know how to fight, how to battle, how to cause pain, and subdue. Had you not closed the portal, the Chitauri might have won."

"Is that all they are?" Fury asked.

Loki tensed. "They have a leader," he said, after a moment. "A being I have only heard whispers about. The war they waged, the reason they were willing to help me, so to speak, was because of this leader. He wanted the Tesseract—"

"Hang on," Tony said, holding up a hand. "I thought you wanted the Tesseract."

"The exchange was this: they provide an army for me to take the Earth, and in exchange they get the Tesseract."

"Which belonged in Asgard," Tony said.

"Where it belongs matters not to me," Loki said, "only that it is in Asgard now. But this leader was called Thanos, and he would not be happy with the failure."

"So, you think Thanos has come back to finish the job?" Fury asked.

Loki nodded. "Thanos and the Chitauri will try for the Tesseract, and the Earth for revenge."

"Will they expect you to side with them?" Fury asked.

Loki hesitated just long enough for Amy to say, "Hang on a second, all this happened and we missed it?"

"It was covered up," Steve said at the same time Tony remarked, "You must've been living under a rock!"

"You were probably traveling with me," the Doctor said. "You'd be surprised at what you'd miss. You also didn't remember the Daleks."

"I still don't remember the Daleks," Amy said.

"There you go." The Doctor turned to the others. "The more important question is, how do we stop them?"

"Jane Foster," Loki said.

Everyone turned to him. "No," Fury said.

"Jane Foster is the only mortal who is even close to understanding how travel between the worlds works in terms of your science," Loki explained. "If they are opening a portal, we are going to need to close it."

"We promised your brother that we would protect Jane Foster from you," Fury told him.

"You also promised you would protect the Earth, did you not?" Loki asked, eyebrows raised. "Now which is more important, a promise you made to my brother or this realm that you hold so dear?"

There was a tense moment where Fury and Loki stared each other down. The Doctor chose to interrupt it with, "Er, hello! Hi there!" Everyone turned to look at him. "I just, ah, happen to know a bit about inter-dimensional travel."

"Hang on," Amy said, "can't we just go to wherever the Chitauri are from and stop them?"

"If only it were that easy," the Doctor said. "It sounds like they aren't the type to negotiate."

"They do negotiate," Loki said, "just not with _words_."

Fury sighed. "Doctor, do you know about travel between the dimensions in terms of human science?"

"Not quite," the Doctor admitted. "Whoever this Jane Foster is, she may help."

"And we don't have much time," Loki added.

"Fine," Fury said. "I'll contact Foster."

Clint stood up, abruptly, and glared at Fury. "So you're saying you're not concerned about whether he's going to switch sides?"

"He's got a point, you know," Tony said, eyeing Loki with the utmost suspicion. "He worked with them before."

"And did I get them the Tesseract?" Loki asked.

"No. But you know where it is."

"As if I wish to wage war on Asgard."

"Um…" Tony looked confused. "Don't you?"

Fury sighed and said, "Enough is enough. Loki, come with me. We have a lot to discuss. Doctor, look over Foster's theories. Tony can provide you with the information."

Loki rose from his seat and followed Fury and Hill out. The rest of them remained where they were.

Tony handed over what looked like an iPad to the Doctor, and said, "It's all there. Everything you need to become an expert in astrophysics. I hope you like to read. And…you like physics."

"I love physics," the Doctor said, taking the device and turning it on. "I was a physics teacher once."

As the Doctor busied himself reading Foster's theories, Amy turned to everyone else. "So what's the plan? Are we supposed to fight?"

"That's what we're here for," Steve said. "We're a team. We call ourselves the Avengers."

"Kind of look super heroes." Amy looked the Captain's suit up and down. "Very patriotic super heroes."

"God bless America," Rory said.

"But super heroes? Seriously?" Amy looked around at them all. "I thought you'd all be…taller."

"Wait till you see Thor," Tony laughed. "He's very tall. And blond. And Norse-god-esque."

"Do you think," Bruce asked, "that we can trust Loki?"

The mood in the room instantly became more somber.

"He's hiding something," Natasha said, after a moment. "I don't trust him."

"He's good at playing people," Tony added. "I'll give him that. But has anyone even thought to ask why he's here in the first place?"

An uncomfortable silence.

Tony continued, "Last we heard, he was supposed to be in Asgard receiving punishment. So what's he doing here, and where's Thor? And is he here to take us down from within and pave the way for the Chitauri and this Thanos character?"

"It sounded like he never met Thanos," Steve said.

"Yeah, and Loki is also a master at the art of lying."

Amy and Rory glanced at the Doctor, unsure of how to add to the conversation, but the Doctor was completely engrossed in his reading. Finally, Amy stood and said, "I'm going for a walk. Let me know if you figure anything out. Or better yet, ask Loki yourselves."

Rory looked unsure of whether to follow, but Amy was already out the door. He turned to the others. "It's an idea," he said. "Asking Loki."

"Except he doesn't tell the truth," Natasha said, "and even when he does it sounds like a lie."

"We'll just have to be careful," Tony said. "He can't leave. Not unless he runs, and we could always catch him."

* * *

Amy found herself wandering past agents dressed in dark clothes, and guards with weapons, through the narrow halls the facility had to offer. She wondered where Loki and Fury had gotten off to, and she wondered how, exactly, one was supposed to summon a Norse god, or if one could be summoned. If the Avengers, as they called themselves, wanted Thor around so badly, why hadn't they called him?

Probably because they couldn't.

In the same way Amy had no surefire way of summoning the Doctor. She just had to wait, like the Avengers were waiting.

She managed to find her way to a small library, which, although as stark and clean as the other rooms, had a lot of books. Amy glanced through them, noticing that most were about physics or chemistry or biology, though some were about the stranger aspects of science. There were quite a few astrophysics books, and astronomy books. There were also myths.

Amy searched the myths until she found a book on Norse myths, which she pulled out. She sat in one of the two chairs occupying the room and flipped open the book, and started to read.

She didn't know how long she sat there, but she had become totally engaged with her book when a voice startled her out of her reading, causing her to nearly jump out of her seat.

"Those aren't entirely truthful, you know."

Amy shut the book quickly and looked up to see Loki standing there, a slightly amused look on his face.

"And why would I believe you?" Amy asked. "You lie all the time."

"The secret to a good lie is to incorporate the truth," Loki told her, taking the other seat. "Lies taken from truths are most convincing."

"You know," Amy said, "you've got everyone worked up about whether you're siding with the Chitauri or not. Why are you even here? I heard you're supposed to be imprisoned or something."

"I'm supposed to be punished for my actions, you mean. Asgardians do not always imprison; sometimes they do worse."

"Like what?"

"Exile." Loki took a deep breath, then let it out. "Thor was exiled, not too long ago. To Earth."

"Anything else?"

"All manner of wickedness that I believe you'd rather not hear."

"I don't think anything you could say would surprise me," Amy said, sitting up straighter. "I've been all around the universe. I've saved it."

"Strange." Loki's eyes swept her up and down, and Amy had to fight to keep still. "You are nothing special. You are a simple mortal. You don't even possess the intelligence that others have. You are no Tony Stark, nor Jane Foster. You do not possess the deadly talents of Natasha Romanov, nor of Clint Barton. You have not the strength of Steve Rogers or Bruce Banner. You are nothing."

"Well this nothing saved the universe, and this nothing travels with the Doctor!"

"And what is the Doctor?" Loki asked. "I sense in him a great power, but also great darkness. He claims to be good, and you claim that you have saved the universe, but at what cost? What has he done?"

"He hasn't done anything," Amy said, suddenly wishing she had stayed in the conference room.

"What does he hide? And why does he need you?"

"Because he's lonely." Amy firmly believed this. The Doctor needed friends, as much as he protested at times that he would rather be alone.

"What's his name?" Loki asked.

Amy swallowed. Nobody knew that. Well, River probably knew that, but River knew everything. "I don't know."

"There is a terrible secret there," Loki said. "Names are power. Words are power. The Doctor knows as much. He is old."

"He's over 900," Amy said. She wasn't sure how old, exactly. The Doctor was a time traveler. What was a year to her might have been 100 for him had he been spending them elsewhere.

"Impressive." Loki said. "And what do you have to offer in this war?"

Amy wasn't sure. She loved traveling with the Doctor, and she and Rory held there own, perhaps through shear luck, but also because Amy wasn't willing to just back down. She was a fighter. And, in his own quiet way, so was Rory.

"I'll be there for the Doctor," Amy answered. "No matter what."

Loki nodded, as if confirming something to himself.

"And what about you?" Amy asked. "Why did you try to take over the Earth with the Chitauri?"

"Because I wanted to rule," Loki said.

Amy glared at him. "I don't believe you." She wasn't sure why she didn't. Perhaps it was the easy way he said it, or the fact that he'd staged everything in Manhattan of all places. "Why would you hurt the people you wanted to rule? Why not wage a more organized war?"

Loki smirked. "Why do you think?" he asked. "Perhaps all I intended was revenge, and this was the easiest way to get it."

Amy stared at him. "Revenge against who?"

"Thor. Please do keep up."

"Thor…" Amy looked at the book in her hands, then back to Loki, who had stood up.

"Your Doctor hides as much as I do," Loki told her. "You'd do well to remember that."

He left. Amy placed the book on the floor and stood up, trying to sort through what had just happened. She'd asked Loki questions and gotten no answers. Natasha was right—talking to Loki had accomplished nothing.

But why had he sought her out? Was he planning something? The thought made her shiver.

She left, after a few moments, to go find Rory.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the wait! Had a lot going on. Hope you enjoy this chapter!

* * *

The next morning Jane Foster arrived, and the Doctor and Loki both were to meet her in the lab. They were being monitored by cameras, and Steve Rogers stood outside the door for quick access in case anything went amiss.

Jane immediately got to work, after a somewhat tense introduction to Loki and the Doctor, Jane got to work. The Doctor pointed out that his TARDIS, had it not been confiscated, could probably tell them a lot. As it was, SHIELD's techniques were not the most advanced. They may have taken Jane's tech at one point, but they still weren't clear on how to use it.

Still, Jane decided that she would work with what she had, and what she had was someone who knew how to travel between the worlds. "Eric showed me the portal you created to let the Chitauri get to Earth," Jane said to Loki after scanning SHIELD's notes. "Do you think there's a way to reverse it?"

"There is always a way," Loki said. "The problem is, we don't have the source. Romanoff closed the portal through the Tesseract, which we do not have, and neither do they. They are using some other source of energy."

"A bifrost of their own?" Jane asked.

"Perhaps." Loki frowned. "What you're looking for is a way to close the portal from this side, rather than from the source. Quite different."

The Doctor watched the both of them and thought back to an alien invasion over Canary Warf, and portals to another universe. "Science and magic," he said.

"Sorry?" Jane looked up.

The Doctor joined them in front of the computer screens. "Science and magic. You're always talking about combining them. Surely, Loki, you know how to travel between the worlds. Yes?"

"Yes," Loki answered. "Without the assistance of a bifrost."

"Right," the Doctor said. "And I've traveled between the universes once, and through time and space plenty of times. It's technology that allowed me to do so. One of my companions even made a cannon to bring her into different universes."

"But it did not close the portals," Loki said.

"No, the portals tore the universe apart, both times," the Doctor admitted. "But that was between universes. We still managed to close everything. It just took…a lot of tech."

"The Chitauri are of this universe," Loki said. "They are simply rather far away and unaccounted for by Asgardian standards."

"But you can help," Jane said. "You've traveled between the worlds without tech, by yourself! You know what it's like to be the source of that travel. Perhaps…you can teleport the Chitauri back?"

Loki raised an eyebrow. "You expect me to transport a large army across space under the power of my own magic?" he asked. "And you want to let the Chitauri army loose on Earth for that to happen?"

Jane sighed. "It's all I've got."

"You don't have anything," Loki said. "I do not have enough power to transport the whole of the Chitauri army. And if we want to prevent the army from coming through, we must find the source of power that will allow them. I am sure, individually, they can come through in smaller groups. But something powerful must be allowing much more."

"Magic," Jane suggested.

"Different technology," the Doctor said. "Humans call Time Lord technology magic because they don't understand it, but actually-"

"How do you suggest we find the source of power?" Jane asked.

"Go to the source, of course," Loki said, though for all the lightness in his voice, his features conveyed great distaste at the idea.

"SHIELD won't let us go to the Chitauri," the Doctor said. "They won't even let me near my TARDIS."

Loki smirked. "Come on, now. The mighty Time Lord defeated by humans?"

"They're keeping my friends safe," the Doctor said.

Loki laughed. "Your mortal friends will be in danger if we do nothing."

"So what are you suggesting? We sneak out?"

"You take me to the Chitauri."

"This is crazy," Jane said. "You're not allowed out of SHIELD. Neither of you. And you," this to the Doctor, "shouldn't trust Loki. He's dangerous. He tried to take over this world. It would be…the worst choice you could ever make."

"You exaggerate," Loki said. "Thor has put too many ideas in your head. Besides, it affects not you, safe for the results. You would not accompany us."

"Why?" Jane asked. "I was called here to help." Defiance made her seem a lot more than a short young scientist.

"Because Thor would kill me if I let you within reach of the Chitauri," Loki said, "and frankly, it is not an experience I want to have. If we could do this without needing to go to the source, I would be glad to."

Loki lied, that much the Doctor knew, but something in his tone made him believe the mischief-maker.

Jane seemed less than convinced. "How do I know you won't turn on us? You worked with them before."

"You don't," Loki said with a smile. "Now, Doctor, are you coming or not?"

"I don't even know where my TARDIS is," the Doctor said. He had a bad feeling about this.

"Lucky for both of us, I do."

* * *

Rory and Amy found themselves in the cafeteria, after the Doctor had left them to go play around with technology. Amy was bored.

"What d'you think they do for fun here?" she asked. Agents had milled into the cafeteria for lunch, but that had been an hour ago, and now the number of people present was thinning. None of the Avengers had shown up.

"Save the world?" Rory shrugged. "I don't know. Just be glad they're not targeting us."

"But I want to do something! I don't want to sit in this cafeteria all day! Aren't you bored?"

"I'm not in immediate danger," Rory said. "I'm quite content."

"Come on." Amy stood up and ignored Rory's long-suffering sigh. "Let's go find something interesting."

Amy led Rory through the halls, stopping at a few doors to inspect them. There were very few people around, and those agents who passed them said nothing as they walked by. Presumably they were too busy to notice two civilians wandering around.

"I bet they get aliens here all the time," Amy said. "It's like Area 51."

"I think all of the southwest is Area 51," Rory said.

They rounded a corner and found themselves facing a particularly heavy, steel door. Amy attempted to open it, and surprisingly, the door gave way and hissed open.

Beyond the door was a circular room, and in the middle of the room was what looked like a glass cylinder, complete with a door in front. It occurred to Amy that this might be a containment cell, judging from the door and the bench inside.

"Whoa," she said.

"We shouldn't be here," Rory told her.

Amy didn't listen. She turned to her left—there was a lever there. "Think this opens it?"

"Amy…"

"What is this _for_?" Amy asked. "I mean, it looks…big. Tough. Like it would hold something big."

Amy pulled the lever.

Alarms blared to life and Amy released her hold as if burned. She turned to Rory, who grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the room. Agents were running every-which-way, and lights flashed. Rory somehow managed to navigate them back to the cafeteria, where they nearly ran into Fury.

"Captain Fury!" Rory gasped, skidding to a halt. Fury looked angry.

"What's going on?" Amy asked, breathless.

"That's what I was going to ask you," Fury said. "This base is working under the assumption that there is an emergency because the Doctor, Loki, and the Doctor's strange space ship have all disappeared from base."

This took a moment to sink in, and Amy and Rory could only respond with, "What?"

Fury sighed. "You don't know anything about this."

"The Doctor was in the labs all morning," Amy said. "Where could they have gone? Oh…oh no. Did Loki kidnap him?"

"I'll have to ask Foster," Fury said. "Head to the conference room. We'll convene there."

Fury stalked out, and Amy and Rory made their way to the conference room. Amy felt lightheaded. "Loki can't be trusted. The Doctor isn't safe."

"The Doctor's been through worse," Rory reminded her. "End of the universe, people who've wanted to kill him, a whole planet full of enemies. I think he can handle Loki."

"But Loki's hiding something," Amy insisted. "And he gets into your head…like, he talked to me, and he just seemed to know what would put me on edge. It starts to bother you. I can't stop thinking about it."

Rory turned concerned eyes on her. "Do you think he can control minds? Is that what it is?"

"I don't know," Amy admitted. "I feel like I'm myself but…what if he can? Then what about the Doctor?"

The two entered the conference room and fell silent, hoping that the Doctor could be found quickly.

* * *

The Doctor noted that Loki's amazement at the TARDIS was not the same sort of fascination as that of his human companions. He didn't ask how it was bigger on the inside, didn't even remark on it, but instead studied the control panel as the central column worked, pushing up and down as the TARDIS sped through space. He studied the controls and then turned to the Doctor with the most unguarded expression of pleasure the Doctor had ever seen upon his face.

"This is…quite a feat of technology," Loki remarked. "The ship is alive."

"What?" the Doctor asked, sharply. It usually took people a lot longer to pick up on that. Some humans never picked up on it at all.

"I can hear her," Loki told him, "in my head. She sings such beautiful songs, and she has power and knowledge of all of time and space."

The Doctor suddenly felt cold; he couldn't tell if Loki wanted to take advantage of this power or not, but the fact that he could see through the TARDIS so easily was disturbing.

Loki's eyes sparkled. "You must have been like gods, to be able to harness such power and use it."

"Perhaps," the Doctor said. "And what about you, and Asgard, and the tesseract?"

"Like gods," Loki answered, with a smirk.

The TARDIS shuddered to a stop, and the groaning noise of travel was replaced with silence.

Loki whipped around to face the door.

"Outside should be the home planet of the Chitauri," the Doctor said. He couldn't see Loki's face. Loki stood facing the door, suddenly rigid.

The Doctor wondered if he ought to stride past him and go out for himself. Loki's hesitance held him back. Instead he asked, "Do we have a plan?"

"We need only to see what their source power is and report back to Foster," Loki said. His voice was clipped. "By all means, once you have the knowledge get back to the TARDIS."

"Once we have the knowledge," the Doctor said.

"It won't be easy," Loki told him. "There is a possibility that only one of us will make it back."

"Since when do you lack self preservation?" the Doctor asked. "From what I've heard you'd rather have anyone else die except yourself."

"You are the only one who knows how to fly this thing, correct?" Loki asked. He turned towards the Doctor, who nodded. "Then you are useful. I have other ways to travel between the worlds, but they are not guaranteed to hold a second passenger, and your machine must go back even if I don't accompany you. The Chitauri cannot get their hands on such power, and if you escape without me, do not wait. I will follow in my own time."

"Right." The Doctor frowned. "That was almost nice of you."

"I have no idea what you mean." Loki strode towards the doors and put his hands on the wood. The Doctor walked up behind him.

"Ready?"

Loki took a deep breath. He looked too pale, like he had upon seeing the portal open in the desert. "I am always ready."

And they stepped out onto the cold planet.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's Note: Sorry for the delay! My computer broke and had to be taken in for a week, then broke again and had to be taken in again, and then job training happened. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

* * *

The Doctor had seen barren planets, destroyed planets, lost planets. But the Chitauri lived on a cold, desolate rock in an abandoned part of space, and their citadel (because that, really, was the only way to describe it) was tall, reaching for the stars with black spires that seemed to impale the sky. Loki walked in front of him, rigid. The area was strangely silent.

"The source of power is below this structure," Loki said, his voice hushed. "I can feel it."

The Doctor still wasn't sure how he felt about Loki being able to feel power and magic, but in this case, it was rather useful. "How do we get in?"

"Through the front door," Loki said. And he walked up to a gate where a Chitauri guard stood, waved his hand so that the guard slumped over, and then with a second wave unlocked the gate.

"How did he not see us?" the Doctor asked.

Loki gave him an exasperated look. "I have cloaked us," he said. "I am a sorcerer, you know."

Then he turned and walked inside and the Doctor followed.

If the outside of the planet was unsettling, the inside was no more comforting. The Chitauri had a sense of style, and it seemed to be 'dark and barren.' There were long hallways, guards dressed in silver armor, doors with bolted locks, and very little light and almost no decoration. Loki lead the Doctor through a maze of hallways, and the Doctor was glad of his presence. Loki could both cloak them, take care of the guards, and lead them to the source of power, and all the Doctor had to do was follow.

Follow and hope that Loki remained faithful to Fury. It wasn't that the Doctor was defenseless but rather that he was on an unfamiliar planet with a volatile sorcerer who had snuck them into the citadel of another powerful being who possessed a great amount of power.

They descended a set of stone stairs downwards, and the air became significantly colder. The light seemed to fade the further down they went, until Loki found himself up against a thick door.

"Hmm."

The Doctor could barely make out the door. "Hmmm?"

"Teleportation may be required," Loki said. He turned and looked the Doctor up and down, considering him. "I can't open the door, it seems. And we don't have a lot of time. Someone is bound to notice that all the guards are asleep."

"I don't want to end up in two pieces," the Doctor said.

Loki grabbed his arm with a slender hand, grip firm. "If you do end up in pieces, you at least won't be alive to suffer through it," Loki assured him.

The Doctor wanted to protest, but suddenly the ground gave out beneath him and he was pitched into total blackness, into a space that made him feel like he was floating, and the only anchor was Loki's hand on his arm. Then, suddenly, his feet slammed into the ground and he pitched sideways, only to catch himself at the last second. He realized he had closed his eyes and opened them.

"Wow," he breathed. "That was…" Terrifying, absurd, impossible, "amazing."

Loki was giving him a bemused look. "And so you have arrived whole and healthy. Pity." He looked around the room, and his eyes focused on something in the center.

The Doctor looked as well.

The room was large, with walls made of a thick material that looked like steel. There were strange devices everywhere, technology that the Doctor, for all his traveling, found unfamiliar on sight. Had this been any other type of quest, he would have spent days here trying to figure out how to work the tech. As it was, he simply wanted to get in and out and regretted it had to be this way.

In the center, however, there was a strange electric blue force-field that had been generated around the center object, which was, upon first glance, a gauntlet. A large gauntlet, for a large hand.

Loki had paled considerably, but the Doctor stood there, unsure of what it meant. "What is that?" he asked.

"The source of their energy," Loki said. "It is known as the Infinity Gauntlet, and it can, much like the Tesseract, manipulate the universe. But on a far more personal level. Whoever wears it becomes…like a god."

"Oh." The Doctor could understand the problem, now. "Where did it come from?"

"Asgard," Loki said. "It was in the weapons vault. I have no idea how it ended up here."

That wasn't good.

"The Asgardians are fools," came a voice from beyond the Gauntlet.

The Doctor nearly shuddered when he saw what revealed itself: a creature, tall, with blood-red skin and bright eyes hidden underneath a black cloak. The voice was menacing. It spoke of death.

"Thanos," Loki murmured.

"I see you are a fool, yourself," Thanos said, closing in on them. "You have returned when I promised punishment for your actions."

"Yes," said Loki. "How silly of me. What is that force-field, by the way, that you are using to guard the Gauntlet?"

"Why should I tell you, traitor-prince?"

"I assure you I could make a better one."

"You lie."

The Doctor started, slowly, to edge towards the Gauntlet. It was a stupid plan. Maybe it would work.

If Loki saw what he was doing, he didn't react. He had Thanos' attention.

"Perhaps," Loki murmured. "I am, after all, the God of Lies."

"I should have killed you when I found you."

"You should have," Loki agreed. He laughed. It wasn't pleasant. "But then where would you be? It is because of me that you knew of Asgard, and of all the wonders contained there. How you got through their security is beyond me, though I must admit, Asgardians have ever been blind to true danger."

"I would have found Asgard regardless," Thanos said. "You should tell your friend to cease his efforts."

The Doctor stopped short and sighed. "You caught me," he said. "But you have to admit, Loki had you going for a few minutes."

"Who are you?" Thanos demanded.

"Who am I?" the Doctor repeated, raising his eyebrows. "Oh, you really don't want to know. Some people call me the Destroyer of Worlds. Others call me the Oncoming Storm. I am the stuff of legends. I am a Lord of Time. I defend this universe and all those in it, and I am your worst nightmare."

Even Loki looked impressed by this introduction.

"And you have brought a huge source of power to my planet," Thanos said, lips curling into a parody of a smile. "The very essence of time and space is encased within the blue box that sits outside. My soldiers will be happy to pull it apart."

The Doctor's stomach sank. "You'll have to open it first," he said, "and it doesn't open."

"We shall tear it apart," Thanos said.

The Doctor glanced at Loki, who seemed to be deep in thought. Thanos looked triumphant.

"We'll stop you," the Doctor said, because he didn't know what else to say.

"You will try," Thanos told him, "and you will fail."

"I think I've had enough failures for one lifetime," Loki chimed in, and he lunged towards the Doctor, and touched his arm, and the moment this happened everything disappeared for a moment and then the Doctor landed, smacking against something hard.

He managed to stand and grabbed on to…his console. The TARDIS console. He whipped his head around wildly, looking for Loki, but the god was no longer there.

Back in the citadel, Thanos had lashed out the moment the Doctor disappeared. He'd grabbed Loki by the collar of his armor and hissed, "What did you do."

Loki grinned. "Apparently, I can teleport other people."

Thanos shook him harder. "Where. Is. He?"

Loki could only laugh. "Gone!"

* * *

Back at the SHIELD base, Jane had explained to the assembled Avengers, Fury, and Amy and Rory just where the Doctor and Loki had gone to, and no one was happy.

"So this is really bad, yeah?" Amy asked, cutting in before things could turn out worse.

"Yeah," said Stark, rubbing his head. "The Chitauri are harsh, and if they're staging another war, they'll be…not kind."

"The Doctor won't let them take him," Amy said. "Even if Loki is on their side. The Doctor's clever."

"You better hope he is," Fury said. "In any case, we should prepare for the worst."


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey all! Terribly sorry about the delay! Three jobs and school will do that. Thanks for all the reads and reviews! Enjoy!**

* * *

The Doctor sent the TARDIS in motion, knowing that Loki was, in some strange way, depending on him. It shouldn't have meant anything, considering who Loki was, but it meant hope. Hope that Loki would actually do the right thing. Loki was powerful, the Doctor could see that, and he wanted Loki on his side rather than fighting against him.

So the Doctor set his coordinates to the exact location of the Gauntlet, and hoped for the best.

When the TARDIS rematerialized, it was ten hours later by Loki's count and one minute by the Doctor's. Either way, the TARDIS faded into view around the Gauntlet, effectively destroying whatever shield was woven around it.

And only the Gauntlet.

"Not good, not good," the Doctor murmured, picking up the device. It really did look like a glove, but embedded with several stones. He considered picking it up, trying it on. Then, he decided against it. Something held him back.

Instead, the Doctor jumped over to the console, typing in data. He was looking for Loki's biological information.

Finally, his computer gained a signal. He could only hope that he wasn't too late.

* * *

Amy paced. She wasn't a particularly nervous person, but the Doctor made her more nervous than anyone she knew. And right now, he'd gone off to another planet with a war criminal, to face another insane person, and none of that sat particularly well with her at the moment.

They were outside the base, waiting. Amy felt that she was always waiting for something.

Rory watched her with visible concern. The Avengers, for the most part, had dispersed. Tony Stark was the only one who'd stayed with them, because he was most interested in seeing what the results of the Doctor's outing would be. And Jane, who wasn't an Avenger. But she was the very definition of scientist.

None of them talked. And then-

The sound of a groaning motor filled the air. A TARDIS sound. The TARDIS itself faded into view, and they all stepped back as it solidified, and waited.

The door swung open, revealing the Doctor dragging a nearly unconscious Loki. "I need help," the Doctor gasped.

All of them ran forward. Amy caught a glimpse of blood. Lots of it.

"What happened?" Stark asked.

"He," Loki gasped, and everyone was a bit startled to hear him speak, "is an idiot."

"I am not!" the Doctor said.

"Explain. Now," Stark snapped.

Loki answered by passing out.

Stark paled. "Or, you know, later is good too."

Later meant the same meeting room, minus Loki, and full of confused Avengers, and an annoyed Nick Fury.

"I don't know where you get off thinking that you can go, without my permission, to the planet of the enemy," Fury snapped. "What. Happened."

"We needed to do some exploring," the Doctor said, "and it was dangerous. You wouldn't have approved."

"You're damn right I would've have approved."

"You idiot," Amy intoned.

"Look," Stark said, "What's done is done. What we need to know is: what happened?"

"Funny story-"

"Ain't nothing funny about it," Fury snapped.

The Doctor looked mollified. Amy and Rory glanced at each other, amused. "Well, okay. We wanted to go see what energy source was powering the Chitauri and we sort of…found their boss."

"Boss?" Fury repeated.

"Yeah, some chap named Thanos. Didn't seem very nice. Had this thing called the Infinity Gauntlet which, according to Loki, can control the universe. Thanos didn't want us to escape. He wanted my TARDIS, because it, too, is a huge source of power. Long story short, I got away. Attempted to get Loki. Arrived too late. Thanos had planned on punishing him for a lot longer, but I managed to get him out."

"So Loki and Thanos aren't best buddies, then," Tony concluded. "Well, then."

"I think the most pressing issue here is that now we have not only a new enemy to face, but he's got something as powerful as the Tesseract," Fury said. "And, now he's angry because he lost another power source."

"More powerful than the Tesseract," the Doctor corrected.

"The point is, we're in for another war," Fury said. "And we need a plan."

"The plan is simple." The Doctor stood, grinning widely at them all. "Get the Gauntlet. Defeat Thanos and his army. Keep the TARDIS safe."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I don't know!" The Doctor was positively brimming with glee. "Isn't that great? I tend to just wing it."

"I don't think they do 'winging it', Doctor," Rory murmured.

Fury seemed to share these sentiments. "Doctor, my world is in danger. People will die if we can't stop this."

"Right now, Thanos has his attention on Loki and I," the Doctor said. "And we're here, in the middle of nowhere. For now, that's a good thing. Keeps his mind off the rest of the world."

"Why didn't you get the Gauntlet?"

Everyone turned towards Natasha, who had voiced the question. She looked at the Doctor intently.

The Doctor sighed. "I had it. I gave it to Thanos in exchange for Loki's life. I'm not much of a fighter, I'm afraid."

"But-" Clint looked furious. "That bastard doesn't deserve-"

"You don't want to finish that sentence," the Doctor snapped, glaring at Clint.

"Oh, I think I do." Clint stood up. "Do you know what he did? Do you know what he'll do?"

"You know what's good?" Bruce interrupted, also standing. "Sleep. I think we need to rest. Think on it. You know? That sounds like a good idea to me."

Grudgingly, the rest agreed with Bruce. Fury looked as though he might implode any second, but dismissed them with a wave of his hand.

Everyone went their separate ways. Rory ended up talking to Bruce about medicine, and the Doctor was with Tony and Jane doing sciency things. Amy, at any other time, might have felt herself interested, but instead she went to the infirmary.

Loki was sitting up in a cot, looking badly off, but he was still awake, and reading. He looked pale, and there were far too many bandages on the parts of his body Amy could see, and he looked dead tired, but he turned his full attention to Amy when she entered. He'd been reading, she saw.

"What's your game?" Amy asked, closing the door behind her and taking a seat.

"Game?" Loki repeated. His voice was still a bit hoarse.

"Yeah, you know. God of Lies and all that. Earth's greatest enemy. Why're you helping?"

"I only help myself."

Not an answer. Amy sighed. "The Doctor was late."

Loki stared at her. "I did not think he intended to come."

"You were surprised?"

"He gave up the Gauntlet in exchange for my_ life_. " Loki seemed angry about it. "He was an idiot! Now that source of power is in Thanos' hands and with it he can do anything. With a thought he could get rid of us all."

"But he hasn't."

"He wants us to be here when he defeats us."

"You should be thankful," Amy snapped. "You'd be dead now if it weren't for him."

Loki laughed, hollow. "Oh, Amelia Pond. I wouldn't be dead. Death is too kind. Thanos is in love with death, and it is not a gift he would grant to those who displease him."

Amy shuddered. She had never thought of death as a gift of any sort. "Then what-"

"Shh!" Loki held up a hand, visibly tensing.

"Oh, come on," Amy said. "I was just asking-"

The sound of an alarm cut her off. "Okay, what was that?"

Loki looked ghost white. "They're here."

"What?"

Loki suddenly pushed himself off the bed, into a standing position.

"Amy Pond, do you trust me?"

"No!"

Loki grinned madly and grabbed her arm.

And everything dissolved.


End file.
